"Blood Rain," written by Kim Seong-jae and Lee Won-jae ("City of Violence"), is a well-structured, almost old-fashioned murder mystery transposed to the early modern Korea, a la "Name of the Rose."... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
The film, which took nine years from planning stages until completion, has important comments about alienation in the modern world, but at two hours the simple premise is stretched too thin.... (Howard Schumann)
Reminiscent of the quirky, offbeat films of Alfred Hitchcock, "Mother" is an intense, witty, and engaging psychological thriller with enigmatic characters that do not just populate the screen but are ... (Howard Schumann)
"Thirst" which opened stateside on July 31, following a solid distribution deal with Universal Pictures. As the most controversial Korean film of 2009, many critics and viewers have blasted it as a pr... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
Director Bong spares no authority figure in his searing indictment of contemporary Korean society, all the more effective due to its "Animal Farm"-like tone.... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
Torn between dependence on and resentment of her mother and her dreams of reuniting with her father to whom she writes or imagines poetic letters, Aimie's problems are compounded by feelings of cultur... (Howard Schumann)
Seen in this light, "Our Town's" screenplay by Mo Hong-jin shows considerable chutzpah by directly delving into the social psychology of serial killing, putting the killer at the center of the narrati... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
Jung-ho, as played by Kim, has a bloated, sad-sack mien with the undercurrent of hostility and desperation. Kim never once mugs for the viewer's sympathy, and yet, as the film unfolds... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
One can glean that Harada pointedly wanted to go the opposite direction from the sullen cynicism of J-horrors with similar themes, such as Sono Sion's "Suicide Club," taking to task the Japanese socie... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
Unfortunately, the movie is riddled with illogical plot points, a few of which threaten to negate the entire premise. For one, given the "loophole" in the Korean legal system revealed in the climax, t... (Kyu Hyun Kim)
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